Bulgaria's National Identity

Sotiris Romas

Bulgaria’s National Identity
      National identity has been difficult to define over time as so many factors go into identifying with a state or nation. According to Anthony Smith (1991, p. 595), a nation is “a named human population sharing an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members”. National identity is meant to allow people to come together with similar people that share the same background and ideals. National identity is the sense of belonging and identifying with a certain state or nation based on culture, religion, and language, for example. My country, Bulgaria, specifically identifies with these examples of national identity and uses them to distinguish themselves from the “norm” of Europe’s Southeastern countries.

The first main example of national identity is Bulgaria’s language and the fact that Modern Bulgarian has been around since the 16th century. Berger discusses the significance of language and how it was important to demonstrate the unity of the state or nation. “It was important to demonstrate that the people who constituted the nation… had spoken the same language…” (Berger 2009, p. 492). Speaking the same language allowed Bulgaria to create an identity so nations around the world had a name to put to their language when hearing it. “From a historical standpoint, Bulgarian understandings of the nation have had an uneasy relationship with Europeanism” (Dandalov 2012). Bulgaria thrives on culture and history and having the same language since the 16th century proves to be an important component in helping Bulgaria identify themselves. As mentioned in my narrated briefing, Bulgarian is spoken by 76.8% of the total population. This number is over nine times greater than the second most spoken language in Bulgaria, Turkish. Language gives themselves the ability to make a country special and unique compared to the countries around them because only they speak the language. Although Bulgaria was not in the former Yugoslavia, in comparison to the to them, language is a key difference as Bulgaria’s language is unique while the languages of the former Yugoslavian countries are very similar. The history of the language and the fact that it has stayed relatively the same for so many decades has helped Bulgaria create this identity for themselves.
The foundation of Bulgaria’s national identity comes from their culture and how they incorporate their folkloric traditions. These folkloric traditions include art, literature, music, celebrations and daily life (iExplore 2018). Through times of hardship and conquerings by the Roman and Ottoman Empires, Bulgaria has been able to retain their cultural traditions. Traditional Bulgarian folk customs vary from region to region but remain the same in essence throughout the Bulgarian lands (MacDermott 1998, p. 9). Although this varying occurs, Bulgarians can travel across the country and still understand the dances and the history behind them. Folk dancing, history and culture work together because behind every dance is the history of how it became known and where the dance came from. The average population’s age is relatively high and the older generations have lived through hardships that allow them to appreciate their country more and have pride for who they are. These hardships include battling the fact they were led by a Communist party for over 40 years in the 1900s and overcame that to become the Parliamentary Republic. Folklore is the cornerstone of Bulgaria’s culture and can be seen at many family gatherings and celebrations across the country and this is introduced to children of younger ages so they can grow up and be prideful for their country.
The third example of national identity is religion, and in Bulgaria, this is a significant part of how Bulgarians identify themselves. Bulgarian Orthodox Christianity is the main religion in Bulgaria and because Bulgaria is extremely historic and traditional, they teach religion at a really young age and follow the New Revised Standard Version Bible closely. Bulgarian Orthodoxy is one of the national churches of the Eastern Orthodox communion (Brittanica 2011). Having their own national church strengthens their national identity because of the uniqueness of having their own communion. Religion has usually been used as a way to bring a community together through common beliefs and ideals. Once a week the community comes together and prays and enjoys time with each other as a way to get away from the real world. Conversation becomes quite easy and being able to talk about religion and what we have in common allows us to grow deeper into our ideas. Religion has also helped Bulgaria maintain national identity because of the rise of Romani people in the country. Bulgarians have decided to stick together in unity and express the importance of their beloved religion and culture. The high majority of Romani in Bulgaria are Muslim and Catholic and Bulgarians are making sure that the Eastern Orthodox traditions they practice stay strong across the country during this time. Romani have traveled to Bulgaria, throughout the past hundreds of years, for a new home and while settling here they have made Bulgaria a stronger unified nation and one with a far stronger identity.
The Romani people have helped maintain the national identity of Bulgaria and assisted in bringing the country together to fight for their land and what they believe in. As Anna Triandafyllidou states, “The history of each nation is marked by the presence of significant others that have influenced the development of its identity by means of their ‘threatening’ presence” (Triandafyllidou 2000, p. 600). The ‘threatening’ presence of the Romani has brought the Bulgarians together in every aspect, especially religion. This internal significant other has come here for shelter and instead, in the eyes of the Bulgarians, has overwhelmed the country by following a different culture and religion. The Bulgarians have not gone through much change in recent years and this rapid influx of Romani, within the past decade, has shocked the people in a way where they believe they must fight to withstand their homeland. “The feature that makes some other group a ‘significant other’ is the fact that it is perceived to pose a threat to the existence of the nation” (Triandafyllidou 2000, p. 600). In the eyes of the Bulgarians, there is a threat being made to their existence and beliefs and therefore it must be stopped by coming together to form a stronger identity against the group of people that have been unfairly treated over the years. A combination of the significant other and the three main aspects of national identity has given Bulgaria a strong identity that is difficult to break apart.
Words: 1099

References
Zahariev, A. (2018). Welcome to Bulgaria! Well, not if you are Roma! European Roma Rights Centre. Retrieved from http://www.errc.org/news/welcome-to-bulgaria-well-not-if-you-are-roma

Bulgarian Embassy in London. (n.d.). Embassy: Religion

MacDermott, M. (1998). Bulgarian Folk Customs. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Chary, B. F. (2011). The History of Bulgaria: The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood.

Hobsbawn, E. (1996). Language, culture, and national identity. Social Research, 63(4), 1065-1080.

Stokes, B. (2017). What it takes to truly be ‘one of us’. Pew Research Center.

Dandalov, P. (2012). Bulgarian national identity in an era of European integration. openDemocracy.

Thompson, I. (2017). Bulgarian. About world languages

iExplore. (2018). Bulgaria- History and Culture

 Berger, S. (2009). On the role of myths and history in the construction of national identity in modern Europe. European History Quarterly, 39(3), 490–502.

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the `other.’. Ethnic & Racial Studies, 21(4), 593.

Bulgarian Orthodox Church. (2011). Encyclopædia Britannica.
Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bulgarian-Orthodox-Church

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